'Football is our only spouse'

GURGAON, October 19: American football and baseball legend Bo Jackson once said, "Football is easy if you’re crazy as hell."
The Iranian women - here to take on India in AFC Women's Asia Cup 2008 qualification round match on Saturday - juggling the ball clad in headscarves and complete body-covering kits may be a different sight on a soccer pitch, but when it comes to walk or talk the game they are as adept as they come.How different can the differences be? Not much in the world of football.
All of 17 years, Fereshteh Karimi sans her headscarf is like any other tomboyish girl, with short-cropped hair and latest gadgets by her side. With no interpreter to help, team manager Badri, her limited know-how of a common language aiding the conversation, tells TOI that the teenager has been showing her prowess in football for the past three years.
Ask Karimi how she got into the game and pat comes the reply (translated of course by Badri): "There is so much football around you in Iran, you just can not escape it." As skipper and right-back Masoumeh Jahanchi and midfielder Fatemeh Arjangi join in, the universal language of soccer takes over - names like Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Figo, Barcelona, Manchester United and Chelsea start pouring in. Soon, even the language barrier starts crumbling under the weight of the names dropped.
As the veil of hesitation also lifts, Arjangi doesn't mind telling why she likes Figo. "I look so much like him. That's why," she laughs.
If for 26-year-old Jahanchi marriage is far down in the list of things to do - "I will play till I can, then maybe if I find a suitable boy I might think of settling down" - Karimi does not even have the time to think about that. "Football is my only spouse," the brown eyes twinkle.
When it comes to these Persian girls, moral fetters have hardly been able to drift them away from the game. It has only worked otherwise. Their heart still beats as fervently for the national men's team as ever, even though they are barred from watching their matches live in stadia. With these girls only allowed to play in front of female spectators back in home, the challenge to play outside the country - in front of a mixed crowd - is also no more intimidating.
"Initially it was a bit difficult to play in front of men in the other countries, but now it hardly even crosses the mind," Iran Football Federation for Women vice-president Khadijeh Sepanji says.
And as Karimi bids a perfect Namaste, one leaves wondering what these girls would do when there aren't any bondages at all.